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Topic: Not so stringy MOZZ cheese (Read 5404 times)

Is it just me or are others having trouble finding decent mozz cheese. I can't remember the last time that I actually had decent mozz cheese that stretched and was stringy when hot and melted. The stuff today just seems to barely melt into a white puddle. I never had this trouble in the past, but the last year has been nothing but bad news for me when it comes to mozz.BIG Daddy

This is a question that scott r should be able to answer based on his wide experience in using all kinds of mozzarella cheeses. Like you, I have not had good results in finding first-rate processed mozzarella cheeses in the Dallas area, particularly whole-milk mozzarella cheese. You may be using a low-moisture, part-skim mozzarella, which doesn't have the stretching characteristics of a good whole-milk mozzarella cheese. I say "good" because even among whole-milk mozzarella cheeses, there are some that are better than others. It's also possible that there has been an actual change in the composition of cheeses sold in your local market as a result of the mad cow problem that closed certain markets to cheese producers and forced them to use other sources for their dairy products.

I have found that in general, the mozzarella brands that are available to professional pizzeria operators are superior to what you can find in your local grocery store. Even up here in Boston where there is a pizzeria on every block I have had to spend hours calling cheese company's and distributors just to find certain brands, or even lines within a brand that I wanted to taste test. Like I have mentioned on the forum before, brands like Saputo make many different sub brands or lines, some with milk sourced form Vermont, and some with milk sourced from Wisconsin. Another broad generalization I can make is that usually the Wisconsin cheeses do tend to taste more creamy, and I have been told by professionals that there is a difference in the cows there and what they eat.

If you can justify buying a 5 or 6 pound block of mozzarella, I suggest going through your yellow pages and calling your foodservice providers to buy in bulk from them. You will save BIG money this way too. Just about everything other than Grande can be had for somewhere around $2.50 a pound, so you are really only paying for three pounds when you buy a loaf of cheese, and this stuff lasts for a long time in the refrigerator. Any time I pick up a loaf or two of cheese I always try to buy a bunch of other stuff they sell so that I am not wasting their time on a $15 order. These places are usually happy to sell you cases of water, soft drinks, and I always get my tomatoes and flour there as well.

Another generalization here, but I have found mild (sometimes called slicing) provolone to have more of that stringy quality than mozzarella. You might be surprised to find out how many of your favorite pizzerias are blending mild (not aged) provolone in with the mozzarella, and you didn't even notice. I have found provolones that taste similar to mozzarellas, and vise versa, as these cheeses are made with a similar process.

Dragone (Saputo from Vermont milk), Poly-o, Sorrento, and Great Lakes are all great tasting mozzarella cheeses that I have found in my local super market. Dragone and Great lakes are less stringy than the Poly-0 and the Sorrento. As you probably know, Grande is the favorite mozzarella of the forum and is pretty stringy. There is no question in my mind that Grande has the best melting and reheating characteristics of all the processed mozzarella that I have tried. If you have not tried it you should probably start there, but expect to pay big money for it.

Hello! I just wanted to state that I prefer to use sliced cheese on my pizzas rather than shredded. The result is a stringier and much less soupy pizza. Shredded cheese in my opinion at least on my pizzas doesn't want to melt together rather they just melt and form a soupy cheese layer. It tastes ok but not what I prefer. The sliced cheese likes to soften and since it started intact it remains intact. The slices also melt together real well as long as the slices are touching each other. Sure it takes a little longer to dress the pizza the results are very good. Not to mention that with sliced cheese the cheese layer itself can be laid out in a very even fashion for even cooking.

I might be able to add something here worthwhile. I have an olive oil mister and I spray the oil on top the cheese before putting in oven. This makes the top a lot hotter and the cheese melts a lot faster. I personally like to cheese to be slightly burned....a slight brown spotting on top. But you could experiement with this...for example spraying on two minutes before taking out of oven.